Chapter 61: Beach

Looking at the bunch of naked men, I wonder what is going on with my life.

"Hahahaha, Maruno! This time you brought back a junior high school student, huh?!" The biggest naked man laughed and drank his beer as the others all did the same.

"CHEERS FOR MARUNO! Congrats on entering the international stage!"

"??!!"

I'm just confused now. I thought this was supposed to be my vacation, not someplace where I can see a bunch of muscular, naked men sitting around and drinking beer in the middle of the day.

"Ano..."

"Hahaha, want to try out some beer, little boy?"

"OI! Don't try to tempt him now!" Maruno quickly slapped the back of the man who spoke and said.

At least Maruno still has some common sense...

"It's still broad daylight. At least wait till nightfall, where nobody will come and disturb you guys before tempting him."

Nevermind. This place is filled with loonies. Even Maruno became much laid-back compared to when he was in Tokyo. Maruno let loose like never before, and he began playing their game of naked rock paper scissors.

"Suzu-"

I turned towards the only man in this situation who was yet to be naked, only to find out that he was accompanying the others to drink beer as well. Maybe he was going to drown his sadness in alcohol, but it's still in the afternoon...

And more importantly, he was supposed to look after me, not that I needed to be looked after.

Sigh...what am I going to do with this bunch of people...

"Uesugi-kun, is it?"

Finally! A voice that doesn't sound naked, drunk, high, or intoxicated! Turning towards the source, I saw a tanned middle-aged man with short white hair standing at the height of about 1.7 meters. He was the only person who was not drinking (apart from me), and he was currently wiping some glasses behind the counter and smiling at me.

"Uesugi Fuutarou. Nice to meet you," Ignoring the group of naked perverts, I went towards the only sober man and introduced myself curiously, "How did you know my name, though?"

"Maruno often texts back to them." Pointing towards the rowdy bunch, the tanned man smiled, "And I often get to hear them talk about some kid named Uesugi who is very good at piano."

He stopped wiping the glass and extended out a hand, "Glad to finally meet the prodigious kid. The name's Kotegawa Toshio. Nice to meet you."

After taking his hand and shaking it, I looked around the...stall? At least I think I'm currently in a shop.

"Is this a shop?"

"Yep. Didn't you read the sign on the front door?"

"I know it's called 'Grand Blue', but there is nothing grand here, no offense, nor there is anything blue here."

"Hahahaha, you're a funny kid. I like you already. Say, why don't you and I take a tour around here since it's your first time?" Toshio suggested as he placed the remaining cups in the sink and looked up, or rather, down towards me.

"Sure, why not?" I looked towards the group of drinking naked men who brought me here and left me alone all by myself, "It's not like I can depend on any of those people anyway."

"Then let's go now. Maruno!" Toshio turned towards Maruno and yelled.

"What, ojii-san?!"

"I'm taking Uesugi out for a while."

"Sure, sure! Have fun!"

I don't think Maruno even registered their conversation and replied half-heartedly.

Sigh, the image of a reliable older brother just disappeared in an instance.

As expected of one of the most comedic anime that ever lived, even if it was currently before the canon timeline, Grand Blue had never stopped me from laughing.

But seeing it and experiencing it is different. Maybe it was funny and would be funny in the future when I'm legally allowed to drink with the others. But in my current kid form, who is forbidden to touch any sort of alcohol, this is just tragic.

And most importantly, I miss the taste of alcohol from my past life.

Urgh...

∞

Taking a deep breath in the truck, a smile couldn't help but form on my face. Matsuyama was a semi-rural province, but it was also semi-developed. The air might be fresher in Matsuyama compared to the center of Tokyo, but neither could ever compare to Mie prefecture, Owase city, where every breath of air is as fresh as it could be with a tint of saltiness.

"Ah~. So comfortable..."

Because it was currently early summer, it made the perfect weather to be out on a beach. The occasional breeze that spread the saltiness from the sea, the warm weather that wasn't too hot nor too cloudy; it was comfortable.

"Right?" Toshio chuckled as he drove us around in his truck. The windows were down, allowing an ample amount of air to flow in and out of the truck.

"The sea is such a beautiful place, with various scenic sights, yet everyone just loves money way too much. Unless it's during the summer vacation, hardly anyone ever comes out to the sea or beach for some exercise." Toshio was complaining about his lack of business, but his smile never left his face, "Still, it's good that you can join us for the next two weeks."

Actually, I only planned on staying here for about a week before leaving, but now that I know Grand Blue was here?

"Yep! I'll be in your care for the next two weeks! But where are we going first?"

"We have to visit the usual tourist attraction first. After all, I can't be mistreating my guest by leaving out some tourists spot, right?"

Nodding in agreement, I waited for Toshio to continue with his speech.

"It's already the afternoon, so let's head for the aquarium first. We can get out lunch there as well."

We haven't eaten our lunch, yet the men in the shop were drinking on an empty stomach until they passed out...

I wonder if being in an anime means your kidney and liver would be strengthened to the point where drinking spirytus with 96% alcohol content is no problem.

Hm...food for thought, food for thought.

∞

The aquarium had more people than I thought it would have. But I guess more people were living by the beach than I thought.

There wasn't an aquarium near my neighborhood, which was a surprise since I never considered that until now. Actually, now that I think about it, there aren't any zoos as well.

So this would be my first time entering an aquarium in this life.

Buying the entrance ticket, Toshio and I quickly entered, and boy, was I surprised.

The moment we entered, the first thing that caught my eye was the enormous tank that basically acted as a wall that was filled with colorful fishes.

"Wow..."

The aquarium was indoors, and the design ensured that the only things receiving the spotlight in this place were the fish. The spotlight reflected the picturesque scene of fishes swimming about happily as plenty of people crowded around the various tanks to take a closer look.

"What do you think of the fishes?"

"Beautiful. And wondrous."

Toshio didn't say anything about my reply, so we just kept our silence as we slowly walked around the place, peering into the various tanks to see what type of fish occupied them.

Yellowtail, amberjack, Japanese horse mackerel, sauries, sea bream, and bonito are among the fish landed at Owase.

Yellowtail may be any of several different species of fish. Most commonly, the yellowtail amberjack Seriola lalandi is meant. In the context of sushi, yellowtail usually refers to the Japanese amberjack, Seriola quinqueradiata. There are about 77 other species called simply "yellowtail", which include Yellowtail Angelfish, Yellowtail Catfish, Yellowtail Clownfish, and many others. The most distinct feature of yellowtail is obviously, their yellow-colored tail.

I mean, if their tail was not yellow in color, then I wouldn't know why it's called "yellowtail".

There are two main types of amberjack, from what I could read from the various signs - greater amberjack and lesser amberjack. The greater amberjack is quite literally greater in size, while the lesser amberjack is smaller. Both are voracious predators that feed on squids, fish, and crustaceans. While adults amberjacks are usually found near rocky reefs, debris, and wrecks, juveniles can be caught near floating objects.

I would talk more about the fishes, but since they bore me, I'm not going to go to great detail for the rest of them. Just know that there are plenty of fish and marine creatures around.

Amberjack was also the only type of fish that only had two tanks for them. Even sharks had more tanks for them.

Why? I don't know. But since there were sharks, I was more attracted to them than reading some boring texts.

"You want to go ahead and touch the sharks?"

Toshio pointed towards what seemed to be a shallow pool that was barely deep enough to put my entire arm inside.

This is weirdly nice to touch and play with. A few dozens of non-aggressive sharks, stingrays, and large fishes swam about inside that shallow tank. While some purposefully dodged the various children's outreaching hands, some took the initiative to glide past people's hands, much like a cat seeking attention.

I don't remember if I had ever gone to the aquarium in my past life, much less whether or not this is my first time to touch sharks. But I got to say, it's a lot rougher than I thought it would be.

I know that a stingray's back was very smooth as it helps reduce the friction in water to help it glide further and faster with less energy, but a shark's skin was rough.

As for the reason why, I don't know. But who cares?

Maybe it was a coincidence, but a shark landed right in front of my hand and stayed still lazily. I moved my hand towards it slowly, but seeing that it wasn't frightened by my gesture, I slowly patted the shark.

As it turns out, the shark seemed to be enjoying my touch a lot as it started swimming closer to me.

Head-patting proficiency apparently works on animals too. I don't know how sharks communicate with one another, but the longer I stood in my place to pat the shark, the more marine life started to arrive near us.

"Oh my, you are very popular, huh, Uesugi? I think Chisa might be jealous that you get to be this close to the animals on your first time here." Toshio arrived beside me, and his smile grew wider upon seeing my hand crowded with animals.

Chisa? It's THE girl, right?

"You'll see her later. For now, I want to show you something."

∞

"Just before we entered, you asked me why my store is named Grand Blue even though there is nothing grand or blue in my shop." I nodded my head, and he continued, "I don't know whether you know or not, but do you know what my store sells?"

We were currently walking to who-knows-where where Toshio was presently guiding me to.

What was Grand Blue all about again?

Ah! That's right!

"Booze, spirytus, and getting naked down to your underwear?"

"I'm so sorry if the boys in my shop gave you that expression." Toshio's smile froze a little before it became slightly forced, "What do you think about diving?"

"Diving? Ok, I guess."

I have never been diving before, so I wouldn't know. But seeing pictures of it allowed me to have a general idea about what's it all about.

"Just sinking into the water and swim about, right?"

"So that's your first impression?" Toshio's usual smile returned as it pointed towards a tunnel that was brightly lit, "Let's see if I can change your mind with this."

Entering the tunnel filled with light, I realized that it wasn't actually spotlighted, but the light refracted from the water from all around us.

The top half of the tunnel was blocked with transparent glass, and surrounding us were fishes of all sizes and shapes. And as if that wasn't nice enough, the atmosphere around us felt simply amazing.

I have no idea how to explain everything I'm currently witnessing in words, but there was only one word that came out of my mouth when I stared at everything around us, from the belly of a shark swimming overhead us to the beluga sturgeon dexterously weaving itself among the corals.

"Wow."

*****************

A/N: This will be a short arc, with only 5-6 chapters before we get back to school with another really small and short arc (like Mafuyu arc). I really enjoyed writing this slice-of-life arc; it makes for a lot more content than I actually hoped. However, we are only halfway through the year 1 major arc, so let's keep this up!

Year 2 would contain a lot less romance/slice-of-life, and a whole lot more action. For people who are getting a little tired of the constant no action no thrill life, worry not, for the majority of year 2 major arc will be full of action (fights, mysteries, and so on).